Verizon‘s rival AT&T is also trying to bolster its IoT business through initiatives such as a cloud-based data-analytics platform for companies and a global SIM card for connected cars.

Verizon Enterprise Products senior vice-president Mike Lanman said: "Continued innovation in smart cities, connected cars and wearables demonstrates that IoT is the future for how we will live and work.

"Despite the exciting potential, IoT is still too complex, too fragmented, too expensive to connect and too hard to scale.

"With our experience in networks, devices, platforms and applications, we are taking a holistic approach to simplifying adoption to expand the IoT market from millions to billions of connections."